UN recognizes Brandon’s Health Checks

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This article was published 30/12/2023 (668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An annual event in Brandon called Health Checks, which is a free health and wellness expo for older adults, has been recognized by the United Nations for being innovative, inclusive and a champion for promoting healthy aging.

The UN’s Decade of Healthy Aging was launched in 2021, when organizations from around the world were invited to showcase what they do for older adults in their communities and how they have helped people add life to their years.

A progress report was released in November, and the folks from Health Checks learned they are one of 117 submissions from almost 50 countries that the UN will use as a case study for improving the lives of older people, said Meryl Orth, committee co-chair.

“It’s pretty exciting to think that other countries around the world could look at our little initiative as a template to copy and replicate, that what we’re doing here in Brandon is meeting what they’ve set as a global goal,” Orth said.

Health Checks is the work of a committee made up of representatives from 14 organizations, including non-profits and local citizens, as well as representatives from Prairie Mountain Health, the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Association of Senior Communities (MASC).

“We’re a player in aging, healthy aging and active aging,” MASC executive director Connie Newman said. “This puts Brandon, Manitoba, Canada on the world map because of the grassroots that sit at that table.

“When you look at the other Canadian submissions, they’re all from the government sector or Public Health Agency of Canada, and that’s power.”

There were four pillars or essentials that had to be met in the submission. The group had to prove they addressed ageism, age-friendly communities, primary care, and long-term care. Health Checks met three of the four pillars – excluding long-term care.

Besides the September health and wellness expo — which is officially called Health Check: There’s A Whole Lot of Living Left To Do! — the group hosts the Elder Abuse Awareness Day event in June.

They also created a website, and present a television show on Westman Communications’ WCGtv, with conversations on aging.

“We help provide information, education, intervention and prevention for older adults, so they can make decisions on how they want to age in place in the community,” Orth said.

“And then you can take the initiative and figure out what your health needs are before it becomes a crisis situation.”

The idea for the health and wellness expo had humble beginnings, said Orth, who is a retired school teacher. In 1999, she and a fellow educator held health screenings for three- and four-year-old children.

“And so, 20 years later, I thought what we did for children needed to happen for the older adults,” said Orth. “I had been a caregiver for my mother, and it was in learning how to navigate systems to help my mother after she had multiple strokes, that I could see that this was an unmet need in our community.”

The first Health Check event was held in 2019 at the Victoria Inn and about 350 people attended. The next two years, 2020 and 2021, were held virtually and online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022 and 2023, the expo was in-person once again at Brandon University’s Healthy Living Centre and when the final head count was complete at the end of the day in September, Orth said, they had almost 500 people in attendance.

There were 50 vendors ranging from parks and recreation to mobility and mood disorders, to sex education and suicide prevention and intervention.

Several health screenings were offered including hearing tests, dental hygiene checks, and presentations from a pharmacist, a Brandon police officer, and a representative from Canada Revenue Agency.

But something stood out to Orth, she said, when local university and college students got involved. They had pre-occupational therapy students, those taking massage, and students of nursing and psychology.

The younger people reported they enjoyed the event more than they thought they would, said Orth.

“We had young people come to us and say, ‘We need this information as much as the older adults because we didn’t know what health and wellness was.’ So, it was intergenerational. As you address one, you address them all.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett congratulated the Health Checks committee, and said having attended the wellness expo “many times,” it was good for an outside source to recognize them and say “great job.”

“This is awesome — everyone involved are champions,” Fawcett said. “It also provides the opportunity for the event to grow and be a shining example for other communities.

“When we work together, we can really be an asset to a certain segment of the population, and in this case the aging population, but it’s really good for everybody.”

The case study of the Health Checks health and wellness expo is now on the United Nations Decade of Healthy Aging website.

For more information visit https://bitly.ws/385xd

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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